Good news for Thames economy

[dgadee]

There is a worldwide shortage of sand.

 

[LittleSister]

Is this something to do with the shift to data mining, or all that unearthing of other stuff that AI is now doing?

 

[LittleSister]

I am reminded that back in the 70s I lived in Cornwall. At the time there was a reported shortage of sand in the South-East of England, where there was a lot of building, development and road construction going on, while in Cornwall the place was littered with vast spoil heaps of the stuff (then 'white mountains', but since largely grassed over). I couldn't understand why our then nationalised railways couldn't arrange for the two problems to cancel one another out. I have since lowered my expectations.

 

[Bouba]

That is a shifting story

 

[AntarcticPilot]

There is a worldwide shortage of sand.

Worth bearing in mind that "sand" comes in many types! Mostly it's sand made of quartz grains, which might be rounded or angular - that matters, I understand, when it comes to its use in concrete. But sand is a grain size definition, not a composition. The sand in the Cornish waste tips, for example, will have a high quantity of feldspar as well as quartz, and that would render it unsuitable for building use (Feldspars break down slowly into clay minerals in the presence of water; hence the China Clay deposits in Cornwall!). And some sand is made up of other minerals - black sand results from the breakdown of some volcanic rocks; there's even radioactive sand containing thorium in some places! Many other minerals can occur in sands, but as far as I'm aware, only fairly pure quartz sand is suitable for building.

 

[Neeves]

only fairly pure quartz sand is suitable for building.

Unless you are a coral reef


The major supplier of sand in the UK is British Industrial Sand (unless it has enjoyed a name change). Big markets are foundry, glass and construction. BIS was part of General Refractories, taken over by Hepworth Ceramic Holdings and BIS was part of Hepworth's Minerals Division. There is no shortage of 'sand' there is a shortage of higher purity sand for ceramic fibres etc. Sand deposits can be upgraded - at a cost. BIS held leases on UK sand deposits that they did not work, reserves.

Many rare earths are sand deposits (and they are in short supply). Rutile is also mined as sand.

Allied Eneabba mined mixed sands in Australia that they sorted, Rutile, Ilmenite, Zircon, kyanite which were exported to, for example, the UK,). Now the big potential is for Rare Earths under the Iluka name.

So, some, sand is definitely in short supply for example rare earths but beaches are fairly safe.

Jonathan

 

[dgadee]

I have been reading Maurice Griffiths and his Thames predecessors from the 1890s. They would be pleased to know that their Swins and Swatchways are safe.

 

[lustyd]

(and they are in short supply)

I thought that referred to known usable supply rather than actual quantity available. Much like "oil reserves" refers entirely to known identified oil that can be extracted. A number that has actually grown throughout my lifetime despite "reserves running out by X" headlines regularly appearing. "rare" earths have a habbit of becoming quite common when the value rises, look at Neodymium for example!

 

[Neeves]

I thought that referred to known usable supply rather than actual quantity available. Much like "oil reserves" refers entirely to known identified oil that can be extracted. A number that has actually grown throughout my lifetime despite "reserves running out by X" headlines regularly appearing. "rare" earths have a habbit of becoming quite common when the value rises, look at Neodymium for example!

mineral sands tend to be mixed and unless there is the equipment to separate already then the investment needed is high - the reserves might be there - but until someone puts their hand in their pockets - they are not available. What seems to be happening is that China manipulates the prices to make processing uneconomic and no-one want to put their hand in their pocket unless they are going to make a profit.

There are, or were, a couple of UK companies, Swift Levick and Neosid come to mind, who specialised in using rare earths. As you say the use of the word 'rare' its just a word or a name - like Jim - and the common meaning is misleading.

Jonathan

edit

For those who insist on threads having marine applications

I'm not sure of the details but LVM, Low Voltage Motors (the Aerogen wind generator and a variety of 12v pumps) had a close association with Neosid and or Swift Levick - maybe the latter 2 companies supplied the magnets for the generator and the pumps. All 3 companies, I think, were based in or near Sheffield

J